John and I never would have adopted from Ukraine, (and especially not independently!), if it weren't for the many, many families who have been generous enough to post their adoption stories on their personal websites. We have learned a TON, and we have fallen in love with the country, the culture, the Ukrainian adoption process, (stresses and all!), and especially the children. A few years ago, if someone had said that some day we'd be adopting from Ukraine, undoubtedly we would have laughed. I speak Spanish, not Russian! Why would we go to UKRAINE!? They don't speak Spanish there! We would have thought we would be going to South or Central America, or even domestically (John hates to travel, afterall!) It won't take you long to see why we had such a change of heart. It is easy to spend hours reading these websites, and it is just as easy to catch the "Ukraine bug" by doing so. Grab a kleenex, a mug of hot chocolate, and be warned, you might just find YOURSELF packing your bags for Ukraine after reading through these links.
BTW, one of the reasons I separated these families into years they traveled is because of how things have changed with Ukrainian adoptions in the past few years. It used to be that you could have an open referral - meaning you could go into an orphanage and be shown all the available children at that time. Now, you can only meet the child/ren for whom you have a specific referral. Another more recent change is that families wanting more than one child MUST adopt siblings. So, please keep that in mind as you read these stories. The more recently people have adopted, the more likely that your own adoption might work out similarly. THINGS CHANGE FAST in Ukraine!
Adopted in 2005
Millilo's websiteAppointment July 26
Webster's websiteAppointment July 12; Adopted two unrelated boys in Donetsk
Green's websiteAppointment June 24; Adopted girl from Kharkov
Woodford's websiteAppointment June 16; Adopted two boys in Kharkov
Cottrell's websiteAppointment April 6
Denise and Corey's websiteAppointment March 28; toddler boy
Alexander's websiteAppointment February 8; Three kids in Odessa
Weston's websiteAppointment January 25; 2 teens in Kharkov
Adopted in 2004
Morin's websiteAdopted toddler boy in December
Strong's websiteNovember 8 appointment; Adopted toddler girl in Odessa
Hartley's websiteJuly 21st appointment; Adopted two boys
Alice's websiteAppointment August 30th; Adopted two boys
Amos' website Appointment July 8th appointment; Adopted three kids
Dwight's website Appointment June 29; Adopted two boys
Insley Family Adopted from Dnipropetrovsk in June
Corbetts' website Adopted from Donetsk region in May
Forrests' website Adopted from Kharkiv region in May
Rob and Cristin's website Adopted from Zhiytomir region in April
McGullam's website Adopted from Lugansk region in April
Hofmeisters' website Adopted from the Mykolayiv region in March
Collins' website Adopted from Simferopol in March
Kruegers' website No journal from this adoption on his website, but John is family #749 and #599 on the Ukrainian Angels website. He adopted from Kherson both times, finishing his second adoption in February.Write and ask him to send you the dvd of his trip... he is a generous man and just gives his adoption video away. Especially if you are considering an "older child" you MUST see his dvd!!! THANK YOU, JOHN!!!
Adopted in 2003
Lisa and Ethan's websiteAdopted from Dnipropetrovsk in December
Jim and Gia's website Adopted from Dnipropetrovsk in December. You have to go to the calendar and use the arrow keys to toggle to Nov/Dec journal entries for their travel journal.
Reynolds' website Adopted FOUR kiddos at Christmastime, two from Odessa, two from Simferopol
Dan and Connie's website Adopted from Kiev
Williams' website Adopted in 2000 and 2003 from Volyns'ka region
Heeters' website Adopted from Simferopol
Leahys' website Adopted from Chernvitsi region
Brooks' website Adopted from Chirnigiv region
Adopted in 2002
Allridges' website Adopted from Chirnigiv region
Hanlons' website Adopted from Donetsk region
Hamby's website Adopted from Odessa
Seyler's website Adopted twice! December 2000 and June 2002 Family #194 and #595 on Ukrainian Angels website. Adopted from Ternopil and Donetsk regions
Kruegers' website (adopted again Feb. 2004)
LaViolas' website (adopted March 2002, and currently in the process of adopting again!)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Would you like your "story" online if someone else put it there for you? If you'd like, we will take your adoption story and post it on our website. There are a few ways this could work for you. You can wait until after you get home and write up your story for us to post. Or, it could be in the form of your emails/travel journal that you send as you are reporting home from Ukraine. You can use our website as a place to direct your friends and family to read your updates while you are abroad. That way, you are sharing your journey with those of us future travelers who would LOVE to learn from your experience too.
We would put your name in a list above, and when someone would click on your name, it would pull up your own page with your updates from Ukraine. We'd be glad to post pictures here for you to be able to show off your little one(s). (This would be for anyone adopting from Ukraine, whether via agency or indy.)
If you are interested, let us know! shelly@johnandshelly.net
